


Brother

by ZanellBlack



Category: Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: Gen, Siblings
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-14
Updated: 2020-04-09
Packaged: 2020-06-28 09:46:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 5,351
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19809748
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ZanellBlack/pseuds/ZanellBlack
Summary: Superboy had a sister he couldn't remember. It was a stroke of luck he found her. Now he has to discover who is his sister.





	1. Chapter 1

All that Superboy could make sense from the day the protégés broke into Cadmus was chaos. He remembered the pod and Match, and the promises his now friends made to him the first time he saw the moon. However it was all cramped and rushed in his mind.

Certainly life since then hadn’t been easy. For instance, his relationship with Superman was still tense and most of the time they were walking on eggshells around each other, but at least, they weren’t hostile with each other anymore.

Since he was freed, Conner joined the young version of the Justice League. He also learnt to control his anger, his powers and his thoughts. The peace of mind that came from his training soon made him remember a detail he had disregarded all of this time: The last words Dubblilex told him telepathically before he left Cadmus’ premises with Aqualad, Robin and Kid Flash. And now that peace of mind seemed to be threatened by those four words.

The reason why they haunted him every now and then was that they made no sense to him. Before he left Cadmus, the Genomorph in charge, Dubbilex gave him a message telepathically “Look for your sister” and five years later he still had no idea what it meant.

“Conner? Hey! You spaced out again” M’Gann told him for the third time today. She had been trying to cook again to much the dismay of her teammates. It was true she had made a lot of progress about the food from Earth, still she wasn’t the greatest chef of all and sometimes, everyone tried to pass over the food made by her.

But Conner was testing his patience with her, especially now that his anger was in check. “Sorry, what were you saying?” The frowning leaving his handsome features gave way to a surprised expression as he turned to meet M’Gann’s eyes.

Rolling her eyes, M’Gann repeated for the third time her request “I was asking you to get the tomato sauce out of the fridge for the spaghetti” pointing at the fridge behind Conner.

“The sauce, yes”. Conner turned to get the ingredient and passed it over to M’Gann who was about to finish her experiment. Surprisingly it looked edible and smelled tasty.

“Seriously Conner, what’s gotten into you? You seem strangely distracted lately” M’Gann tried to inquire about what was disturbing her friend.

However their conversation was forgotten because Black Canary entered Mount Justice looking for all members to be reunited with Nightwing. Apparently a building near S.T.A.R. Laboratories had been attacked and the Justice League though it was meant to be a distraction from more important matters the Light had planned. Naturally the responsibility to stop it fell to the secret weapon they had in hand: the young protégés.

Robin used his technology to break into S.T.A.R. Laboratories so a small party could sneak in. It didn’t take long for them to enter, within minutes Aqualad guided them into the main lab that was sending the signal that alerted the League. But as it was thought from the beginning, it was a trap.

The building was empty for the theatrical attack that detonated an expansive substance that multiplied until filling every inch of the lab with foam. Robin used one of his batarangs and it only made the situation worse, then Kid Flash moved and the friction caused by his speed ignited a fire. Of course the substance was highly flammable and soon, there was fire everywhere.

Aqualad managed to guide the team out with enough spare time to see how the adjacent building of S.T.A.R Labs exploded in thousand flames. It could be countered as a failure, but the explosion uncovered the memory Superboy was looking for frenetically on his mind. Shortly after he was engineered, the scientist at Cadmus engineered someone else, a girl, they were disappointed about her but he remembered have listened to the scientist saying that she must suffice. She had no name and from the little he could see from his time out of his pod, she had blue eyes and dark hair, and a strong jaw that made her intimidating, but that description wasn’t enough to get to her.

Conner remembered one thing more, her voice. She had a deep warm beery voice yet feminine. But he was sure they never spoke face to face, so he started to question the memories he had about his sister. He remembered how she was taken into her pod by two guards after receiving a training beat, she couldn’t have talk to him that time and surely, they never fought each other.

It was too soon to tell the others about the mission he was now taking charge of, mostly because he had no idea where to start looking for the nameless girl. Conner was certain luck wasn’t as benevolent as to assign him an easy mission. But he was wrong. For once, he had it easy. The chance he was looking for appeared three weeks after he started to recover the memories of his sister.

He, Robin and Beast Boy were assigned to deliver a package to a scholar. It had something to do with the material from the trap and explosion, the League wanted to know how it was made to see who could have had access to the labs and material to put up such scheme. It was an easy mission, inconspicuous in and out, that actually didn’t take long and had no complication.

“Brother” it was barely a whisper. Certainly something a normal hearing could never catch up. But Conner was Superman’s clone and his powers included super hearing. He turned to look to the place where he heard the whisper coming from. There was a fire stair and a dump under them in one of those generically alleys on his right. It seemed almost too easy for him to find exactly the person he was looking for in that place. He almost laughed at the thought. 

The team was done, they had delivered the package to the Professor just as Red Tornado instructed and now they were free. “Hey Superboy, comin’?” Robin asked seeing the hesitance on him. “Give me a moment, I’ll meet you later at the base” and with that, the team left Conner with Sphere. He turned to the alley just before he listened to her voice again, this time in his mind “Brother, if only I could’ve found you before…” and she went silent.

Being a telepathic message Conner could get more information from it, sensing the distress and hopelessness coming from the girl. He hurried to the place where he thought he heard the voice to find the body of a girl collapsed hiding next to the dump. He heard the paces of a couple of men running on the other side of the alley. “That bitch couldn’t get far” he heard them saying. They looked at the place where Superboy was standing and decided not to come in when they noticed the muscles of the figure standing in the middle of the alley. It was too stereotypical to be true.

He scooped the unconscious body and put it with care on his bike. The face of the girl was exactly as he remembered. He didn’t fail to notice the gash on her left side and the cut on her arm. She had lost some blood, but perhaps not enough to be of worry. What was worrisome was the blue color around the wound, maybe some venom was used to cause her the wounds. Whatever it was, it wasn’t likely he could help her in this alley.

Conner didn’t want to deal with explanations to the members of the Justice League about his sister and why had he taken her to the secret base in Happy Harbor, nor wanted to explain to his friends why he had never mentioned her existence. But he needed a secure place to take her.

Perhaps he wasn’t in the best terms with Clark, but surely Ma Kent cared enough to help him. It was actually an easy decision to make. He will take her to the farm. “Just hold on sister, I’m gonna get you help.”


	2. Chapter 2

Martha Kent hurried outside the house when she heard the motorcycle. Although Clark wasn’t happy at all about his clone, from the moment Martha learnt about Conner, she decided to welcome him to their family. It was rare that he visited, more if Clark was around, so when she heard the roar of sphere as motorcycle she was excited to see her grandson.

She wasn’t expecting what she saw when she opened the door and met the frowning face of her grandson, then she saw what he was carrying she moved aside to let him in. “Oh My…” she saw the clothes soaked in blood of the girl in his arms. “Come, put her on the guest room” and Martha guided him to the back room of the house.

“Sorry to bother you Ma. I had nowhere to take her.” Conner apologized as he put her carefully on the guest bed.

“Don’t worry Conner. Now, let’s take a look at those nasty wounds.” Martha hurried to get the first aid kit and started to clean the wounds and put a bandage on them. “Who is the girl?” She looked somehow familiar but couldn’t pinpoint who she looked like, and she wanted to discard the possibility of her being Conner’s girlfriend or another Clark’s clone.

“This is complicated… she is my sister” He was fast in adding “but she is no Superman clone. It is all I can remember or know.”

Weighing the answer, Martha finished tending the wounds of the girl as her breathing became even. “Let her rest here. Come, I’ll make tea and you can tell me everything.”

Conner was unable to say no to Ma Kent. They went to the kitchen and while Conner sat at the table, Martha put a kettle in the stove and got the ingredients to start baking an apple pie. “So your sister?”

“My sister.”

“But not Clark’s clone.” She didn’t want to press further, but was eager to know about the girl in the room and how Conner and Clark were related; after all, it was her job as a mother to care for her family.

“No, we were part of the same experiment. She was… she was made… shortly after me. I don’t remember even meeting her or talking to her while we were at Cadmus.” Conner omitted the part where he mentioned that they could communicate telepathically with each other, thus being able to recognize her voice. “But on the day the team came and rescue me from Cadmus, a voice told me to look after my sister. I had no idea what it meant until recently, that I remembered the voice and her existence.”

“How did you find her?”

“It was sheer luck. I was delivering a package for a mission with the team and I heard her calling for me. I don’t think that she saw me or knew I was in the vicinity… she just… said “brother” with sadness… Like she wished to see me once again before...” Conner didn’t even want to finish that thought. “Then saw some guys following her but I shielded her. When I saw her wounds I thought about bringing her here…” He was trying to be as open as he could with Ma, careful enough to hide his fears about his sister being a malign experiment or involved in something fishy. 

“I see, so they don’t know about her” it wasn’t necessary for Martha to specify who “they” were. She meant all the superheroes they knew about, especially Superman and Batman, who surely had an opinion about another young hero. Because Martha was certain being Conner’s sister, she was a hero. Conner just denied it with the head.

One thing was sure; Ma Kent had a sensibility to know what to do when her boys were preoccupied. She came close to reach for Conner’s chin so she could see into his eyes “Well then, let just hope for her to rest and wake up. C’mon, there are some chores to be taken care of around the farm, and I need some help from my strong boy.” Martha said with a maternal smile to the ever willing Conner. He just smiled back and followed Martha to the barn to organize the harvest.

When the sun was setting, Martha called Conner in again and offered him a glass of iced lemonade, a prize for his working hours that tasted like glory for the working teen. They sat at the porch of the house silently at first, and then Martha asked the question that had been lingering during all evening “Are you planning on telling them?”

“I don’t know. I am afraid they don’t take the news well. And I know nothing about her, not even her name. I just… didn’t know what to do or who to trust” with his word was implicit the idea of only trusting Martha with such an important secret. Conner feared them rejecting his sister, just like he was rejected at first. Martha got the message.

“I’m glad you brought her here. No matter what, we are family Conner and you can always call this place your home. Now, what about we have dinner and then, we check upon your sister.” Conner was grateful at her words feeling warmth spreading inside him. With a smile he stood up and followed Ma Kent to the kitchen again.


	3. Chapter 3

She knew that closing her eyes was a dangerous move, but she couldn’t help it. For the last five years she had been running, hiding and learning what was a dangerous move in the survival race. When Cadmus facilities had been attacked, she had the opportunity to run away and so she did never caring for what she left behind.

Life since then hadn’t been easy. First of all she needed an identity which she stole from a woman in a bus. Then she needed a way to live and she found herself jumping around the charity facilities she found along the way.

She found early in her life that there was nothing special in her. From the moment she was let out from the pod, she had been submitted to tests trying to discover what was special about her. By the hits and the broken bones she had when she was returned to the safety of her pod, she could tell they didn’t find anything that satisfied them.

One day a trio of heroes, which she knew now as Robin, Aqualad and Kid Flash, entered the premises she was held in and she saw the chance of escape she was eager to take. In that moment, she didn’t look back, but later on, she regretted leaving behind Cadmus.

It wasn’t because of a pleasant memory, not at all. It was because she saw the boy. The one that was like she, the one she remembered sleeping in a pod like hers with the letters Kr on his glass. But she had seen him fighting and he was strong and could take out anyone who menaced him. Still, he was like she.

At some point she grew tired of running; that was when Dubbilex found her. The leader genomorph had a wide telepathic range and was able to communicate to her the location of the city where all the experimented ones were living. The experience served her to find out her origins.

Dubbilex told her about her brother, the one that escaped and became a hero. He showed her the footage of a well-built boy wearing a red S on his chest. But more important than that, she found the files of their experiment and learnt why their handlers were so disappointed about her and praised him. Dubbilex also taught her to master the ability to communicate with their kind, which meant that they had a bond, just like she had with Match, the first Superman clone. He wasn’t that bad, he had managed to control his anger, but he wasn’t stable like the one who got away and she.

The genomorph city didn’t feel like her home either, not completely. So she left again. This time, she had the bad luck to be in the wrong place at the wrong time and got stuck into crossfire between two mob gangs playing dangerous games.

She was hurt despite being able to block the blows of her attackers, but they grazed her left arm. The only exit she saw was through an alley, but before she could pass to the other side, sudden warmth spread around the places she was attacked, her sight grew dim and sweat covered her temples. She wanted to rest, no… she wanted to let it go. Her last thought was to her brother, the one she hoped fervently to be her home, but now seemed a distant dream. Without resisting any longer she let the darkness embrace her.

However, if there was no hope for her, why she was lying on a bed? Her side and arm were itching and they felt on fire, but they were covered with bandages she swore weren’t there last time she checked. She opened her eyes abruptly and saw the flower papering in the walls. It was getting dark already in the room she was staying if she was reading correctly the golden shine filling the room.

She noticed then that the constant buzzing she had been listening since waking up were actually voices, two of them. The first voice was of a woman, warm and sweet, it sounded like a mother. She was sure the voice was new to her. The woman’s voice was talking animatedly to a second voice; a deep rich male voice that was somehow familiar to her. Although she heard it on limited occasions there was no mistake, it was her brother’s voice.

Her heartbeat rises to the expectative of meeting her brother at last. She stood up from the bed in a swift movement that caused her head to go dizzy. She used the wall to stand and moved to the source of the voices. She was surprised to find two cups of tea and an apple pie on the table where they were talking. Her stomach decided that it was the best time to be noticed and emitted a loud growl; it had been long two days since she ate properly. But the sound made the two occupants of the kitchen turn at the sound.

“Oh, Hi there!” the woman greeted lively, then turned to the boy by her side “Come Conner, leave a seat for your sister” and the woman proceeded to cut a piece of pie and place it in front of her while he moved.

“How are you feeling?” The woman asked her.

“hump… fine I guess Mrs…”

“Martha… but you can call me Ma, just like Conner here. I’m his grandmother. Now, do you want a slice of pie? You must be hungry.”

After all the times she had imagined finding her brother, she was speechless with no idea of how to start a conversation. Certainly in her imagines they were alone. She couldn’t start with a “hey, nice save” or asking how he found her. So silence remained as the best option, plus she was really hungry and the pie looked simply delicious.

For several minutes the only sound in the kitchen was the one the cutlery did against the ceramic plates. That was until Martha had enough of the awkward glances between the youngsters in front of her and decided to put the wheel in motion. “So, do you have a name?”

“Name?” She had never thought about having a name for herself. It made sense now, the first clone was Match, and the first genomorph was Dubbilex, but she had no name. No-one bothered assign a name to her, and in the few conversations she had with other genomorphs she was referred as Sister. The question from Martha took her by surprise.

“Yes… like Conner” Martha pointed at her brother.

So Conner was his name. Now he wasn’t just brother. He had a name, and a family. She felt jealous for a minute, then looked up to the expectant faces in front of her. “No… I… they never gave me a name.”

At times it was hard for Martha to deal with the idea of them being experiments. But she was a kind woman and found an out from the situation. “Oh don’t worry, that gives you the chance to choose how would you like to be called. Now, do you have a name in mind or should we search in the Internet?”

After a moment of thinking she replied… “Abigail… Abby” she remembered having heard that name in the streets and liked it very much. Abigail was the first person that helped her without trying to get a full background story from her, it felt natural to be called that name.

“Well, Abigail, when you finish your pie, we can go and check your wounds again.” And Martha took the chance to leave the kids alone. They had a lot to talk about.


	4. Chapter 4

After the initial awkwardness, Conner found his voice and addressed the person in front of him. “So Abby, I … I am pleased to meet you a last. I had been looking for you and… “ he remembered the conditions in which he found her and grew suspicious. He thought that it was better to ask what he was thinking before involve her with the team and Justice League. “and… are you into something dangerous?”

For Abbey it was a strange question. She was surprised that the first words he told her were about her involvement with “something dangerous”. Not rejection neither full acceptance, just “are you into something that we should be aware of”. And for the first time since she could remember, she felt amusement and security at the same time. She laughed sincerely, she laughed from the heart and a spark shone in her eyes.

“I certainly hope not! I… I was just passing by and heard about someone not taking down the heroes… they noticed me and wanted no witnesses. Someone had a blade and I wasn’t prepared. I ran and tried to hide. That’s what I remember.” She also remembered the pain, and being afraid of dying alone, but it’s not a conversation topic you want to have with your recently reunited brother. “I suppose… you found me then… thank you for bringing me here.”

Conner was assessing her answer. It wasn’t wise to trust her fully in their first encounter. Being confused about what to do wasn’t helping either.

“She is… who is the lady?”

“Martha? Oh, she is Superman’s mom.” He wasn’t sure if he could reveal Superman’s identity to her. It was a prerogative he didn’t’ have. But this girl had to be smart and sooner or later she would make the connection. Until then, Conner will avoid mentioning more names.

“whom? Superman?” Abby was surprised that Superman had a mother. “I thought… he was from outer space and that’s why they cloned him” She mentioned frowning.

“Well, yes, but Martha and Jonathan found him and raised him in this very house, thus becoming his parents.” It was nice to direct the conversation elsewhere.

“And they are your grandparents?”

“That’s what they decided. Most of the time I just call them Ma and Pa.”

“And him?” Curiosity was killing Abby. She wanted to know about Superman and the clones, and about the world itself. But she understood that there were lines Conner didn’t want to cross.

“He… we, almost never talk. It has been hard to process that I am a clone of him. For him… and for me too.” Conner remembered that first encounter and the denial of his identity. Then he remembered that the one bringing him to meet the Kent was no other than Kara as Clark refused still to meet him.[(1)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/342589)

Luckily later, an incident at the Daily Planet smooth the bridge between the supers and now they were in speaking terms. They weren’t the happy family from magazine covers, but at least they were good speaking terms. [(2)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/572114)

Abby thought about how her parent would react at her for a while at the genomorph city. After all she was only a clone and not what it was expected from the experiment at Cadmus. Perhaps they would be disappointed at her too and it was a pain she wasn’t sure it she could resist.

Before their conversation turned to darkest roads, Martha interrupted them. “Conner honey, Clark called asking about you. Apparently they need you at the base.” Conner looked from Abby to Martha and then again to his sister. “Don’t worry, we’ll check those wounds and keep you updated.”

Conner looked once again to where Abby was sitting nodding. He wasn’t fully aware of his telepathic ability with his sister, but in a second he was able to transmit his full message. “I gotta go, please stay and be good to Martha. I’ll be back.” Conner was surprised to receive an affirmative nod from Abby and departed to see what the team needed.

\--

“Now, Abby, why don’t you take a shower and then we clean those wounds again.” Martha gave the girl a towel and pointed at the bathroom.

That night Martha cured Abby’s wounds again. Surely they weren’t bleeding but the blue color around the opening wasn’t fading nor was the wound properly healing. Perhaps the next day things would change.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There are two references in this chapter to two fanfics that I read and became my headcanon and nobody can convice me they didn't happen!
> 
> (1) Kansas Kitchen by Lapin 
> 
> (2) An Interview with the Superboy by BlueNightingale 
> 
> The link to each of them is in the chapter.


	5. Chapter 5

During the following days, Conner’s odd behavior became more evident to those around him. M’Gann mentioned it before, but until now, nobody payed attention. What gave him away was the fact that more and more, Conner was spending time off the base in Happy Harbor. Even more than when he was first welcomed to the Kent Farm. Now he arrived just in time for practice, training and briefing. But if they had no mission whatsoever, he hurried to be out again until the next time he was called.

“See, I’m telling you, he is hiding something out there” M’Gann brought up the subject once again.

“I think...” Beast Boy commented while he was still biting an apple “that maybe he is trying to learn to dance and he’s afraid we are all making fun of him.”

“Seriously kid, he’s… well, he’s never been the party soul but I see what you mean M’Gann. Conner is always tense. He is tired and I’m not talking about physical because, he’s Super’s clone but yes… he’s grim, somber.” Robin noticed, after all Superboy was his best friend.

No one would have dared to ask the reason behind Conner’s behavior. Yet he was present for their weekly bonding activity. The young heroes decided that given the fact that they had they had the whole of the Mount Justice for them… a gotcha match could be held.

Obviously Robin and Nightwing got the gear for everyone and they were ready to play, teams were formed when Conner received a call.

It was strange for him to carry his cellphone all the time. In fact, it was rare that he had with him the little device. When Nightwing was reciting the rules for the second time, his speech was interrupted by the sound of Conner’s phone.

Conner was a little ashamed of the timing of the call, but he knew it was a call he had to take. He excused himself to answer the call from Ma Kent. “I have to take this call”. After hearing the voice of Martha asking him to come urgently, Conner took off the gear and called for Sphere to come with him leaving all of his teammates dumb folded.

Using Sphere as a means of transportation was actually a fast way of traveling. Still Conner felt the trip took ages. 

When he finally arrived to the farm he saw a worried Martha waiting for him at the porch. “I’m sorry to call you Con, but… she fainted a moment ago. She is awake now but the wound is not healing. Abby needs to have medical assistance NOW!”

Conner entered the house with decided step to get to the room where Abby was staying. She was whimpering and rolling in pain as small beads of sweat covered her forehead.

“I’ll take her to the base, even if there’s much explanation to be done. Robin could analyze the blue substance that is impeding the wound to heal and synthetize an antidote.” Or so he wished. To be honest, his friend had never failed when such a challenge presents and he wanted to believe with all his heart that Robin could help his sister.

\--

Conner carried Abby and used Sphere to get to Happy Harbor promising Ma Kent that he will keep her updated about Abby’s condition.

At Mount Justice Conner took her to his room and then called for Robin to come, unfortunately, he wasn’t alone. M’Gann, Nightwing and Beast Boy tagged along. They had been worried about his impromptu exit and the alarm in Conner’s voice made them worry.

When they arrived to Conner’s room, they were surprised by the sight. A girl covered in sweat writhed in pain occupied Con’s bed.

“Superboy, she is not supposed to be here”. They had no idea who she was but certainly, she wasn’t allowed to be in a highly secret base full of superheroes. Yet it was the only place where Connor could find some help.

“I know Nightwing, but I need help to find and antidote for whatever they put in her.” His handsome face showed his preoccupation.

“Who is she” Beast boy asked after a look at her. She looked familiar, a lot like Conner and a bit like someone who he couldn’t recognize, but was certain he had met.

Without any other option, Conner sigh and started to explain what he knew. “Her name is Abby, and she is … my sister.”

“Conner you have a sister? How?” M’Gann was perplexed. She had no idea how he had a sister and he never mentioned to anyone.

“She is a clone, like me, but well, not a Superman clone. She was attacked and that wound hasn’t healed for a week. I took her to my grandma’s house and now she’s getting worse. I was hoping that Robin cold analyze the substance and …”

“… synthetize an antidote.” Nightwing replied. “Miss Martian go ahead and make room in the Medic bay for her. Superboy and Robin will bring her in and get a sample of blood to analyze and see what we are dealing with. I have to make a call.”

They all did as instructed.

Aqualad and Kid Flash appeared next to Nightwing in the medic bay, he had told them because they were the ones that originally broke into Cadmus. They got together to compare their memories of that day. None of them remembered having freed a sister or another clone apart from Match and Conner.

“We have to proceed with caution. We cannot be certain this girl is really a clone.” Aqualad just wanted the best for the team. He didn’t want the team or premises to be compromised by this new element.

Meanwhile in the Med Bay, Beast Boy assisted Miss Martian in exposing the wound and extracting a sample.

When Robin started to analyze the blue substance in Abby’s blood, it sent an alert to the Justice League. Not because of what they were doing, but because the substance was a match with the one they were analyzing from their encounter at S.T.A.R. Labs.

They were so immersed in their tasks that it was a surprise for all when the Zeta tube voice announced the arrival of Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman and Black Canary.


End file.
